Trump campaign furiously denies that former president fell asleep in court ... trends now
Donald Trump could be excused for a sleepless night before becoming the first US president to face trial on Monday, but his campaign team emphatically rejected claims he actually fell asleep in court.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN that Trump struggled to stay awake and eventually dozed off as jury selection got underway at his hush money trial in New York.
The claim sparked a wave of hashtags on social media and was leapt on by the Biden Harris campaign - long dogged by Trump's nickname of 'Sleepy Joe' for the sitting president.
But it was dismissed as '100 percent fake news' by the former president's campaign team who insisted he was the victim of a malicious media.
'This is 100% Fake News coming from 'journalists' who weren't even in the court room,' they said in a statement.
Court napping? The ex-President appeared red-eyed as he sat through jury selection at his hush money trial at Manhattan Central Court in New York on Monday
Trump with his legal team, from left to right: Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman repeated the furiously contested claim on CNN
Jury selection is expected to last for the rest of the week as dozens of potential jurors are tested for potential bias against the ex-president who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to disguise payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels.
More than 50 were rejected on the first day as Trump watched on from his seat at Manhattan Criminal Court.
'Trump appears to be sleeping,' Haberman tweeted from the room.
'His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack.'
Biden has restrained himself from commenting directly on his rival's legal woes but the Biden-Harris HQ X account gleefully retweeted Haberman's remarks, later adding: 'Donald Trump falling asleep in court doesn't speak to him as an engaged, energetic candidate.'
Biden's campaign team issued a release purportedly about poll ratings entitled 'Wake Up Donald: After Stormy Abortion Ban Coverage, Trump Poll Memo Attempts to Hush Panic'.
There was even less restraint on social media where hashtags including 'DonSnoreleone', 'The Nodfather', and Sleepy Don quickly went viral.
